A brother's fear
by MusicalTB2
Summary: What is Virgil Tracy's fear? Rights do not belong to me, but in my mind Virgil is mine haha :)


The rescue had gone well and the boys were all now sitting together in the lounge discussing it, suddenly John called down.

"Guys, I just thought I'd let you know that a storm is on the way, you might want to tie some stuff down by the pool."

"Alright John, thanks. How long do we have?"

"About half an hour."

Virgil went down to the poolside with Gordon to start clearing chairs away, his brother kept babbling on about how excited he was for the storm.

"I wonder how big it will be?" Gordon gazed up at the sky as he folded up a sun-lounger.

"No idea, but I hope it doesn't stay long" Virgil paused as Gordon raised an eyebrow "just so it doesn't prevent us going out on a mission."

"Well, we're clear out here. Let's go."

"Is Scott closing the cover for the pool?"

"Brains has that sorted" Gordon looked up at the sky "well, I'm going to go up to the roundhouse and wait for the storm to come. Want to join me?"

Virgil shifted uncomfortably "um, I might watch it from my room."

"Suit yourself, you'll miss the best view though bro" Gordon smiled and ran up to the lounge.

Alan and Scott pulled the glass doors shut across the front of the lounge and sat back down on the couch to continue the work they were doing before John had called. Virgil sat down at the piano trying to ignore the fact the lounge was getting darker from the clouds forming outside across the ocean, he began to play and Alan looked up.

"Come on Virg, can't you play later? We want to hear the thunder."

Virgil growled slightly "I can play whenever I want blondie."

"Yeah, but we've come in here to enjoy the storm."

Virgil pushed the stool back forcefully and stood up "fine, I'll be the one to leave then."

Scott bit his lip "you alright Virg?"

"Just leave me alone Scott" Virgil left the lounge and went to his room in frustration.

In his room Virgil lay on his bed staring out at the black clouds, lightning was already dancing off the horizon and he shrank into his pillow slightly, he would never admit it to his brothers but he hated storms, especially thunder and lightning. He had been afraid of them ever since childhood back in their small house in Kansas, the storms hadn't been as tropical or long but they were loud. However, in childhood, he had his mother to look after him and she would lift him onto her lap and rock him until he forgot about the storm and went to sleep, now he was alone during storms and the only one still afraid of them. He walked over to his keyboard and tried to remember a piece his mother played to him during the storms, but as hard as he tried, he couldn't focus on the music and he found himself shaking slightly as he played. The storm came and rain hammered against his window, then a bolt of lightning lit up his room. Virgil almost flew from the stool to his bed sheets and buried himself under them so only his eyes peered out.

His other brothers were enjoying the storm immensely although Gordon was slightly worried about Virgil, why had he been so nervous down by the pool? This was only rain, not a hurricane. He watched a few more bolts streak across the sky then went down to the bedrooms to seek out his brother. Back in the lounge Scott was talking to Alan.

"Alan, you probably didn't need to be so harsh with Virgil."

"Oh come on Scott, he over-reacted."

"Like you don't overact at everything Alan. The piano is one of the things which remind him of mum."

Alan looked down at his feet "I know. Don't get me wrong, I love hearing him play, it's just, I love hearing thunder too."

"Then you could've gone to your room instead of shunting him out of here couldn't you?" Scott smiled.

Alan nodded "yeah, I guess so. I'll apologise when he comes back."

Meanwhile Gordon was making his way down the corridor where the living quarters were, he approached Virgil's room and let himself in with a smile, then he frowned, the room was dark save the odd moment when lightning lit up the walls and bed. He then noticed a pair of large brown eyes peering out from under the duvet covers.

"Virgil? Are you ok?"

"Leave me alone Gordon" the eyes blinked tearfully.

"What's wrong? Did something happen in the lounge?"

"No."

Gordon tutted "Virg, get out from under there, I want to talk to you."

Another bolt of lightning flashed across Virgil's window and he closed his eyes "we can talk later."

Gordon looked out at the rain then gasped "are you afraid of the storm Virg?"

Virgil nodded slightly "don't tell the others."

Gordon laughed and walked over to the bed "come on" and he whipped the sheets off his brother.

"Awh Gordon, give those back!"

"Why are you afraid of the storm Virgil?" Gordon asked sitting down on the bed as Virgil grabbed his pillow when the thunder rolled.

"Remember those storms we used to have in Kansas? They were like these. I was scared then too, but mum was there, and well I guess she kept me from being scared."

Gordon nodded "she sang to us too right?"

"Yeah, well I suppose whenever we have storms now, I always think of mum."

"But storms aren't something to be afraid of Virg, they can't hurt you" Gordon smiled.

"They can't hurt you physically, but they can emotionally" Virgil sighed "I've never been good at coping with pain."

"That's not true Virg. It's fine to feel pain emotionally, I think out of all of us, you were closest to mum" Gordon shuffled over so he could hug his brother.

Outside Alan and Scott were walking down the corridor towards their brother's room, they paused slightly when they saw the door was ajar, they shrugged and walked in just catching Gordon giving Virgil a hug.

"What's wrong Virgil?" Alan asked immediately "is it my fault? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kick you out of the lounge."

Virgil looked up "it's not you Alan. I'm….I'm afraid of storms."

Scott raised his eyebrows "why didn't you just say Virg?"

"'Cos you would've laughed."

Scott shook his head "we all have fears Virgil, we wouldn't have laughed" another flash of lighting lit up the room and Virgil shrank back against Gordon's side "it's passing over, John's told us that it'll be over in about ten minutes."

"Ten minutes more of this storm?" Virgil said in a whisper.

"Come on Virg, we'll go back to the lounge, all together" Alan smiled.

Virgil sighed reluctantly "alright then."

The brothers went back to the lounge and Virgil made his way over to the piano ignoring the black doom over the island and rain hammering down on the patio below them, he sighed and began to play the song their mother had sung during storms, as he played he heard singing behind him, he turned his head slightly and saw Gordon and Scott leaning against their father's desk singing, whilst Alan just sat grinning on the couch.

"So, you guys remember the song?" Virgil smiled as Scott walked over to him.

"Absolutely. Feeling less scared now Virgil?" Scott asked placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I guess so."

"With us here Virg, you'll never need to be scared of a storm again right?" Gordon smiled.

"Thank you Gords" Virgil smiled back and continued to play.

As his brothers sat back to listen to the song, Virgil thought about his fear, yes he was afraid of storms but his brothers would always be there to look after him. Storms took people away if they were bad, they had taken away his mother in a snow storm but he wasn't ever going to let one take away another family member.


End file.
